Burdened Shoulders
by angel-death-dealer
Summary: It could have happened to any of them, but it had happened to her. Angsty ReedSue romance. Three years in the future, Sue fights for her life after Doom's final attack.
1. Chapter 1

Chapter 1:

A struggle. A cry. A shot.

"_SUSAN!_"

She heard her name being called from three different directions before she even realised what was happening. The anger on her brother's and Ben's faces were only momentarily aimed towards her before she saw their heads turn back towards the battle, fighting stronger than they had been before, a new rage overcoming them. However, the heartbroken despair of the third voice told her everything that she needed to know.

The poison dart from Victor's gun had found its way into _her _body, and the cry that had been heard upon its impact had been her own.

No one had known that Victor Von Doom would return. They had all feared it, somewhere in the darkest depths of their mind, although these were only the sorts of fears that were recognised sometime in the deepest hours of the night, when nightmares woke them from the first villain they had ever overcome together. However, the mad villain had returned, by methods which no one had yet discovered. All they knew was that his containment had been destroyed, and he was no longer inside. It was believed that either he was freed, or that his power had been concentrated on itself for so long that it exploded with too great a force for the containment to hold.

The Fantastic Four team had been called by the US Military, who had directed them to their point of surveillance where he had been spotted. However, he had moved on since then, with no trace of Victor anywhere. It had only taken a mere hour, however, for him to be rediscovered, or rather, for him to hunt them down. An hour had passed through their search, and then Victor had cornered one of the two pairs who had been hunting him down, and had given Johnny and Ben strict instructions to be at an abandoned warehouse on the waterfront at sundown.

So, they had gone. They'd had their usual planning beforehand, going through alternate plans should anything happen, or someone get hurt, and when they remembered how dangerous it had been fighting him the first time around, they made arrangements for their medical team to accompany them, and wait nearby just in case. After all, Victor Von Doom wasn't a man to take chances around; they had all learnt that.

At the warehouse, they'd found that Victor was not alone. Instead, he seemed to have managed to find himself a considerable amount of followers. It was no surprise to them that all of them had strength to match their own, although it wasn't to the degree of their superpowers. It just meant that, before they had a chance to use them, they had to fight them to the ground first.

It had been a long and exhilarating fight for all of them, but they had managed to corner, and destroy Victor for good this time. However, he refused to go down without making his mark, and no sooner had he collapsed to the ground, he had fired a single of the four shots he had informed them earlier that evening, contained a poison.

Four shots, one meant for each of the Fantastic Four, each filled with a poison that none of them were sure of its origin, or its mortality.

The same poison that was now making its way through Sue's veins.

When Sue realised that it was her who had been hit, she understood the tones of the cries that sounded around her. Johnny's, her dear younger brother, had been laced with worry, sure enough, but it was more vengeful, as he turned his attention to the remaining followers of Victor, who, like the others, were to be bound and then arrested. Ben's was the same, although there was a hint of sadness in his, although he, too, turned back to the task at hand.

However, it was when it came to Reed that things fell into slow motion around her. She locked eyes with her husband of three years, seeing that he was already running towards her as fast as he could, ignoring the rest of the excitement around him. His cry had been immediately distinguishable from the others; filled with nothing more than a heartbreaking devastation that pained her to hear. By this point, as he started to near her, Sue was aware of a throbbing, icy pain that was starting to spread through her body too quickly for her to comprehend, originating from a more painful prick in her neck. She reached her hand up, her fingers dancing along the edge of the dart they came into contact with as she felt her legs starting to fail her, buckling to the pressure of whatever chemical was now seeping through her bloodstream.

She had no choice but to surrender to gravity when her legs gave way beneath her, although, she never felt herself reach the floor of the warehouse. Reed had already skidded to a halt on the ground beside her, catching her in the perfect moment before she reached the cold, hard ground that would have caused her even more pain. She fell limp into his arms, feeling his usually elasticised arms become extremely rigid as he held her tightly, one arm raised as he quickly removed the dart from her neck before any more poison could drain into her system.

"Sue.." He muttered to her, looking down at her dazed face. She looked up at him, darkness beginning to blur the edges of her vision slightly whilst she fought to remain in her consciousness. She didn't know what might happen if she gave in to the nausea. Part of her was afraid that if she closed her eyes at that moment, she might never wake up.

"Reed..." She whispered helplessly.

His heart sank. They'd been through a lot over the years, but he'd never, not once, heard her sound so scared before. He swore at himself, unsure as to whether or not he said it aloud, but he didn't care. He should have been paying attention. He should have been able to do something, to stop Victor making that shot, especially at her. He should have been watching her, even if it was just out of the corner of his eye through the battle, makign sure that she was okay. After all, that was his job, right? That's what a husband's _meant _to do. That was his soul purpose for living. If he couldn't keep Sue safe, what else couldn't he do?

"Oh, God..." He said, feeling a bile rise in his throat, but choking it down as he raised one arm, and brought his hand to her cheek. "_Susie_..."

Her lips raised slightly in the corners as she heard him speaking, but he was unable to meet her smile. Hearing him call her 'Susie' always made her smile. Somehow, even though Ben, Johnny and her father still called her that, it felt more special when he said it. However, now was not one of those romantic times. This was serious...wasn't it?

"Reed...what's...what's happening?" She asked frightfully, suddenly aware of how much of her body she couldn't feel even though she was still moving them...her legs...her arms...

"It's alright, Sue, you're gonna be okay. You hear me? You're gonna be fine." He convinced her, stumbling over his words whilst all she could do was listen. He wasn't the best of men with words at any normal time, let alone at a time like this. What could he say that would make her feel better? What could he do to take this pain away? Anything? Nothing? He leaned over his shoulder, taking his eyes away from her to look at Ben and Johnny, who were making sure that Victor was once and for all gone, adding a few last blows to his corpse just in Sue's honour. "Ben! Johnny!" He shouted to them desperately.

"The meds are on their way, Reed!" Ben called back, still struggling to bind up their last remaining enemies.

That should have made Reed feel better, but it didn't. The doctors that had treated them in the quarantine after they had first been exposed to the cosmic storm had become their back up, of sorts. They were always on alert when the Fantastic Four were out saving lives, just in case their own lives needed saving from time to time. Clearly, this was one of those times. They were currently a few blocks away, awaiting a possible call, which had already been made to them by Johnny.

Reed looked back over to Sue, who was looking more disorientated. "Sue?"

"Reed...go...go stop Victor." She managed to tell him. As always, she was thinking about the work side of things, rather than herself. She'd done it since the start, and still hadn't stopped, even when she had her husband looking out for her twice as much as anyone else.

Reed shook his head, tears forming in his eyes. "I'm not going _anywhere_." He told her stubbornly. "I'm not losing you."

"Before he hurts anyone else..."

"Victor's gone." He told her. "He's not going to hurt anyone ever again." Reed's heart almost stopped altogether when Sue's eyelids started to flutter closed. He shook her in his arms, urging her attention back to him. "Sue? _Susan, stay with me_!" He said, calling the last part a little too loudly, but he needed her awake. He needed those eyes, no matter how much pain they were filled with.

"I...I can't...it hurts so much." She told him in a pitiful voice that wasn't her own. No, Reed hear a voice tell him. This wasn't Sue. Sue was strong. Sue Storm. No, Sue Richards. She was strong. She was a survivor.

"Yes, you can." He told her, fully aware that he didn't sound all too convincing to her when he had tears streaming on his cheeks. They didn't know what was in that poison. She could be dead in minutes for all they knew. It might already be too late. "You _have _to. Don't leave me, OK?"

She gave him a weak, tired smile. "I love you."

"I love you, too, Susie, but you're going to be all right." He told her, horrified to hear the possible goodbye she was putting into her voice. "Please, just stay with me. Hold on."

"I'll try." She said, as strongly as she could.

He gave her a sad smile, struggling to hold it together still. "Good. That's good, sweetheart. That's good."

"Don't let me go, OK?"

He shook his head. "Never. I've got you, Susie. I've got you. Just keep talking to me, try to stay awake."

But now, her breathing started to get more rapid, as she fought for the air that her body was losing. She looked into his eyes fearfully, and he returned her terrified look.

"Sue?"

"Reed..." She whimpered, as the only parts of her body she was able to feel became racked with pain. Her body jerked in his arms, and he fought to hold on tighter to her, holding her against his chest, as she gasped for breath. Johnny and Ben came up behind him.

"Is she OK?" Johnny asked worriedly.

"She's fine, Kid, she's gonna be fine." Ben tried to assure him, not wanting them all to crowd her whilst she was struggling.

Johnny almost exploded at this point. "FINE? Look at her, she can't breath properly! She's not fine!"

The medical team came in, swarming over to them. However, Reed and Sue were oblivious to this, still staring into each others eyes, fearful that the moment they looked away, they would be parted. Reed couldn't stop speaking to her, assuring her that she was going to be okay, his words punctuated by Sue's whimpers and cries of pain as she clung to him as best she could.

Then, she just stopped.

The cries stopped.

The whimpers stopped.

The frantic movements and squirming stopped.

Reed's heart stopped.

"Sue...Susie?" He asked, frowning slightly. He tried to think of another explanation for why she had fallen so still, but a thick thump in his throat and hot pricks in the corner of his eyes told him the simple truth. Sue wasn't breathing. She wasn't moving, she wasn't crying, and she wasn't whimpering, because she wasn't breathing. If she wasn't breathing, then she was… "No...No, _please God, no_. Sue, wake up! Come on, Sue, you can't do this to me. _Wake up!"_

The head of the medical team, Dr. Burgess, came over, and put his hand on Reed's shoulder. "Dr. Richards. Sir, you need to let go of her."

"Sue, no, _please_." He still pleaded over her unmoving body, paying no attention to Burgess's request. He didn't even know that they were there, trying to help Sue. The only thing he could think of was that she had stopped breathing. She was lying in his arms, not moving, not breathing. Dead, effectively. All because he'd not been paying enough attention.

It took some time, but once the medical team managed to release Sue's body from Reed's arms, Ben took him aside, whilst Johnny stood, staring in shock at Sue's unconscious form. Ben stood in the way, so that Reed couldn't see what they were doing to revive her. It would only break him if he kept that image in his head forever; his wife being resuscitated.

"Reed, look at me."

"Sue..." He whispered under his breathing, trying to see past Ben.

"No...not Sue, Ben." He corrected, lifting Reed's face towards his with his oversized rocky finger. "She's gonna be fine." He told him, softer than his more instructive tone.

"She-she-she stopped breathing." He said slowly, as if he were processing the meaning in his mind. "She's...she's not breathing, Ben. That means she's-"

"Alright!" One of the medical staff called out, right on cue. "She's breathing, let's get her back, she needs this stuff out of her bloodstream and fast."

"I'm coming." Reed said, forcing his way past Ben, only to have the rock-built man literally lift him off his feet and hold him above the ground.

"Oh, no, you don't." Ben said.

Reed fought against him. "No. No I'm not leaving her!"

"Reed, let them do their work."

"_I said I wouldn't leave her_!" Reed shouted, even though none of the medical team were waiting for him. They simply lifted Sue onto a stretcher and started to prepare to leave.

"There's nothing you can do for her, Reed." Ben told him quietly, as the sight of his pale, unmoving wife shocked him into a silence and a paralysis he had never experienced before. Ben put him back on his feet and put his hands on his shoulders, holding him in place even though he knew his friend wouldn't move. "You can't help her now, man. It's all in their hands."

Reed simply shook his head numbly. He couldn't not help her. She was his wife. He was her husband. They were a team within the team. They were partners in ways that the Fantastic Four as a whole never could be. They had each other backs. They were meant to survive anything and everything, as long as they did it together. They were meant to go to the stars and back a _million_ times before they were ever taken away from each other.

"It can't end like this." Reed muttered, still shaking his head as Sue disappeared from his sight. "_It can't_."

"It's not going to." Ben told him. "She'll sleep it off, and she'll be fine."

They both knew that Ben was only saying that to make him feel better. After all, you can't just 'sleep off' something that caused you to start convulsing and stop breathing.

"It can't." Reed repeated.

Now that Sue was being whisked away, Ben nudged the two brother-in-laws towards the exit. "Come on, let's get home." He told them in a fatherly tone. Clearly, he would be the one to keep things in order tonight.


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter 2:

About six months after the Fantastic Four had become a public phenomenon, they decided to finally move out of the Baxter building. Then again, Sue, Johnny and Ben had never really 'officially' moved in; they'd just brought more and more of their stuff round as time went on, until eventually, they looked back and realised that they were, in fact, living together. It had been Sue who had pointed this out, when she insisted that she wasn't doing the weekly food shop for the tenth week in a row.

Now, they lived in a larger home, just off the edge of the city. They had chosen to all live together still, because it was easier to function as a team and respond to help that way, even if it did cause a lot of domestic arguments. They all had their own rooms, with en suite bathrooms, apart from Reed and Sue, who shared the master bedroom together. Johnny had argued with them for weeks over this room, but ultimately, it had been decided by vote, that the couple who were marrying in two months time should get the biggest room, for reasons that had caused Johnny to put his hands over his ears and screamed loudly until Ben had shut up.

Reed spent the majority of his time in his laboratory, which he'd constructed out of two large, unused rooms, which Ben had knocked the connecting wall away from, making a perfectly sized lab for Reed to use. However, this time, it wasn't filled with his 'toys' as Sue called them, but rather, with work. He helped out with a research group who attempted to find cures for supposedly 'incurable' diseases. He'd already contributed heavily to the foundation, and people who used the drugs for testing purposes felt a lot better knowing that Mr. Fantastic had been working on it. Of course, it made no difference scientifically, but to those who were, at the end of their tether, testing out new medicines, it helped a lot to know that someone they admired was helping them in other ways than using his powers.

He went to the lab whenever he needed to think about. If he and Sue had a fight, and he needed time to cool of, he'd always go to the lab to think, when she would go and have a warm bath. Of course, it never took long for them to get over a fight, and it was nice for Reed to know that he'd always have a warm bath waiting for him when they apologized to each other. Yet now, Reed wasn't in his lab. He wasn't in his bedroom. He wasn't in the family room. He wasn't in the den. He wasn't in the kitchen, or the dining room either. He was in the medical wing.

The medical wing had been an added part of the building which they had had privately constructed after purchasing the house. They were never usually down there, apart from Reed, who would consult them and ask for opinions about using certain drugs. He didn't necessarily need their help, but they liked to be included in the quiet times where Johnny wasn't out getting into trouble and needing another line of stitches on his scalp or his leg.

Right now, though, he wasn't awaiting opinions. He was waiting for his wife. They had her in the procedure room right now, and whilst he had no idea what was going on, he assumed they were pumping the poison out of her body. Something he could only ever imagine to be extremely painful.

He was sat outside, sitting on the ground opposite the doors which no one would allow him to pass through. When they had first brought Sue back to the house, she had been unconscious, but by the time the rest of them had arrived, and they had began the process of extracting the poison from her bloodstream, she was half-conscious, unaware of where she was or what was happening around her, but still moaning in indescribable pain as the poison continued to spread to her already aching limbs.

But Reed was in just as much agony on the other side of the doors, holding up as best he could, whilst knowing that his wife was in so much pain, and he wasn't allowed to do anything about it. They wouldn't let him help, because he was too emotionally involved. They wouldn't even let him stand by her side and hold her hand now that she was practically pleading for help. Sue probably didn't even know that he was out there, waiting for her, fighting for her as best he could when separated by those horrifically white doors.

He was, at the moment, joined by Ben, who had stayed with him the entire time to keep him from going sane. Yet, the medical team had also requested of him that he kept Reed from trying to get into the room, so he was on standby in case his friend tried to enter, but the shock had brought him to his knees now, and he was powerless to do anything but panic. Johnny had also been there, but when Sue had started protesting with her whimpers and screams, varying depending on what they were doing at the time, he'd left. He told Reed and Ben that he couldn't stay and listen to her in that much pain. He'd not heard his sister scream like that since she was seven years old, and he five, and she had broken her arm in two places when she had fallen out of a tree, trying to get him to get out before _he_ fell. So, he had left, unable to bear the sound of Sue's screams, but Reed hadn't noticed his brother-in-laws presence, let alone his later absence, but they knew that this was because Ben was in a whole other world, where all he could hear, and see, was Sue.

It was ten minutes before they sedated her. They'd spent so long waiting out, trying to avoid sedation in case there was a reaction with the poison in her bloodstream, but when she refused to calm down, there was no other choice. So, when it was finally safe for them to administer the drug, her cries finally stopped. Until then, however Ben kept glancing at the look on Reed's face, as he heard the sound of extreme pain surrounding them. It seemed like someone was playing tug-of-war with his ears, and when he first, after a few moments when her confusion had faded, heard Sue calling out his name, asking for him in sobs in her final moments before the sedation took her, he looked helplessly at Ben, who shook his head at him not to answer her, knowing that it would only upset both of them more.

Reed, however, didn't understand how it would. If he was there, then he knew that Sue wouldn't be so afraid. Sue would know that Reed wouldn't let anyone do anything to unnecessarily hurt her, and without knowing that everything was two hundred percent safe, because she trusted him. But instead, he was forced to remain in the corridor, wanting nothing more than to hide away and stop the echoing screams in his head, whilst he kept his gaze trained on the door, whispering gently to her even though she couldn't hear it: "I'm here, Sue, I'm right here."

At a best guess, it was two hours later when the doors finally opened. Two of the medical staff appeared first, holding the doors open by their backs as they helped to move the front wheels on Sue's bed. It was the same one she'd been placed in when they'd first arrived. Within seconds, Reed was on his feet, wasting no time in going to her side. The medical team stopped, halting completely as they allowed Reed a moment to assure himself that his wife was okay, yet this was no more comfort to him than hearing her finally calming with the sedation.

She was still unconscious from the combination of pain and sedation, and as much as Reed wanted nothing more than to see her blue eyes, he knew that it was better for her to be sleeping right now. If she was sleeping, then she wouldn't feel the pain until later, when it would have dulled further. He remembered his mother telling him that as a child when he was sick; "_Go to sleep, son, you can't feel the pain when you're sleeping_." However, her cheeks were no more coloured than when they had been in the warehouse, still the same, white-grey colour they had dissolved to when she had realised that the dart had hit her. Reed leaned over slightly, closer to her as he put his hand on her pale cheek, and kissed her forehead, lingering his lips there for a moment. She could have been dead at that moment, and if it weren't for the determination to know otherwise, and the warmth he felt from her skin against his lips, he wouldn't have known the difference.

Dr. Burgess was the last to leave the room, coming to Reed's side as he continued to look at Sue, afraid that moving away would break the pair of them. He put his hand on Reed's shoulder, attracting his attention and nodding his head to the side, indicating that he wished to speak to him. Reluctantly, Reed withdrew his hand from her cheek, and stepped backwards from her still body, and as soon as he was two feet away, the rest of the medical team resumed in wheeling her further down the corridor, away to another room where she could recover.

"How is she?" Reed asked, with a break in his voice, finally getting to ask the question he had been asking whoever left or entered the room for the past three hours.

"I'm going to be honest with you." Dr Burgess told him. "At the moment, with all things considered, there's not a completely promising outlook."

At this moment, with all that had been hanging over his shoulders that night, Reed looked like he was about to give up completely. "What do you mean 'not promising'?" He asked desperately. "She's going to be all right, isn't she?" _She has to be all right, she just has to be_, he told himself on a mantra. He couldn't lose her, not now, not so soon. They were supposed to have a lifetime together, not a few years.

"Dr. Richards, you have to understand, she was infected with a very strong poison." Burgess told him. "Because it was designed to fuse onto the red blood cells, we've had to drain the infected veins, and give her a blood transfusion to replace the infected cells."

"But, that's good." Reed realised. "That means she'll get better, right?"

"Not necessarily." Burgess said. "She has a very rare blood type, one that her brother doesn't match, and one that we don't have immediate access to here at the labs. We contacted the local hospitals, but they have none to spare because it's so rare. We've given her O-Negative."

"It's universal, that means it'll match." Reed said, frowning.

"It's a fifty-fifty chance." Burgess corrected him. "This could happen two ways. She could come off the sedation and wake up absolutely fine, or she could reject the blood."

"And if she does reject it?" Reed asked, afraid of the answer but needing to know.

"I'm sorry, sir, but if she rejects the blood, then there's nothing more that anyone can do for her."

Reed hung his shoulders, running his hands over his face before glancing at Ben with tear-filled eyes. "Please." He begged, finding his voice as he looked back to Burgess whilst choking back tears. "Please, just tell me that she'll be okay."

Ben looked on, concerned not only for Sue, but also for the man that he had never seen beg for anything. Their leader, who was always confident when the occasion called for it, who always knew what to do, who always had a second plan when things went wrong, was pleading like there was no tomorrow for him. Reed was reduced to near nothing because of the possibility that Sue might not pull through from this.

Burgess was quiet for a moment, and then replied. "I'm sorry, sir, but at the moment I can't make that promise."

"_What_?" Reed asked in disbelief. He was a doctor, and doctor's were supposed to make promises. They were meant to be able to do the impossible and keep people alive. They weren't meant to say 'I'm sorry, we couldn't do it'. By this point, he was really fighting back tears, so much that the whites of his eyes were brimming red. His voice was breaking dangerously as he spoke. "No, you don't understand." He explained. "I can't lose her. I _can't_. She _has _to be okay."

"There's still a chance, sir, even if it is a small one." Burgess assured him, holding up a hand to try and calm him. "We're moving her to one of the recovery rooms. It'll be a few hours before we find out what effect the transfusion has had on her body. I suggest that you go eat and get changed."

Reed shook his head firmly. "No, I'm not going anywhere." He said stubbornly.

"I understand." Burgess said, before following down to the recovery wing.


	3. Chapter 3

Chapter 3:

Reed hadn't noticed how long he'd been waiting for news on Sue's condition until he felt the first rays of the sunrise hit his cheek warmly from a nearby window. There he was, in the early hours of the morning, and still, there had been no news as to whether she was even going to make it. Several of the medical team had gone into the recovery room with Sue, but none of them had ventured out into the corridor since. Reed had been hoping that they might have done, just so that he could see which room she was in. He didn't even know, as he hadn't seen where they had taken her, and he knew that if he went deliberately searching, he would be forced away as soon as he got near.

At the moment, he was pacing up and down helplessly, unable to do anything else than keep up the steady rhythm of his own feet. He knew that it was partly due to his restlessness from sitting down all night long, waiting for news as he kept himself cramped against the wall, so much that, at times, he'd needed to move because his elasticised body had fused itself into the shape of the corner. But it was also because he needed to do something, anything, even if it was just walking up at down trying to come to a logical thought that didn't include a worse case scenario for his wife.

At around 3am, Ben had managed to drag him out of the corridor. He'd taken him out of the medical wing and up to his and Sue's room, and threatened to lock him in the bathroom for him to shower and change. Wordlessly, Reed had given in, with no energy to fight against anything. He had showered, spending longer under the hot jets than he usually would, which surprised him, even if it was just because he had tranced out for ten minutes, and then changed, noticing that Ben had vacated to another room, probably his own. He put on a simple black t-shirt, with a pair of denim jeans, something casual and easy which he never wore. He always wore plain black trousers, because they were smarter, but Sue had insisted that he had clothes that he could wear around the house without worrying about creasing them. Hence, the jeans.

He had ventured out of his room to be then taken into the kitchen, which seemed empty without Sue making herself a sandwich, or loading the dishwasher with one of her CD's blaring out her music as she danced around the room. Here, Ben had found Johnny staring mindlessly at a blank television had had given both of the men mugs of tea, carefully prepared with his oversized hands. Ben had managed to get Johnny to swallow down a slice of plain toast, but Reed wouldn't touch food, let alone eat any.

When they had returned to the corridor an hour later, Johnny had gone with them, convinced that he wasn't going to hear his sister in pain anymore. And now, the youngest of the Fantastic Four had taken up Reed's previous position beside Ben on the ground, whilst Reed focused on his pacing.

"How could I have been so _careless_?" Reed asked himself, breaking out of his trance as he paced, and hitting his forehead with the palm of his hand. "I should have been watching her. I should have been with her."

"It could have happened to any of us, Reed." Ben told him.

"I think that was Doom's idea." Johnny added. "He needed a way to get to all of us, and when you think about it, Sue's the only way to do that."

Until they had replied to his comments, Reed hadn't realised that he had been speaking aloud. However, he continued pacing as if he hadn't heard either of them. "I might not get to see her wake up. She might not _ever _wake up. I'll never get to tell her that I love her. God, I _never _told her that enough, and now I might not ever get a chance to say it again."

"Hey, think positive." Ben encouraged.

"Think positive?" Reed repeated absurdly. "_Positive_?" He gestured down the corridor to where Sue was undoubtedly lying, still unconscious. "They just told us that there's a small chance of her surviving this. That's my wife, Ben. The love of my life. And she might die. It's pretty hard to think happy thoughts right now." He said, trying his best to keep his temper with his friends. All he could think about was the idea of Sue, dead, and how pale she had looked when he had last seen her.

"Susie's a fighter." Johnny told him, although not looking thoroughly convinced himself. Truth be told, Ben was starting to miss the lively, insulting, cheeky Johnny that he complained about every day. It was much better than quiet, depressed and helpless Johnny. "This is Sue we're talking about. She's not going to quit over this. She's a fighter." He said her name as if she were a legend, a phoenix, even who could never really die.

"Don't worry, Reed. She'll be okay." Ben told him softly, losing count of the amount of times that had been said between them.

Reed turned around swiftly and punched the wall. He threw all his frustration into the hit, and the impact was so hard that his fist flattened entirely against the concrete, but he could still feel the sting of blood against his skin from the initial contact with his knuckles. Leaning back against the wall, breathing hard from the sudden exertion which neither of the other two flinched at, he slid down to the ground until he was back in his previous position, knees drawn up to his chest and his head in his hands.

"Why didn't I tell her more often?" He asked himself through clenched teeth.

"What didn't you tell her?" Ben asked him, providing him with a release for his frustration that didn't involve hurting himself further.

Reed lifted his head, looking down at his aching fist. It was bleeding slightly from the contact with the wall, and he could feel a sting of pain as he flexed it, but somehow, that made him feel better. "I never realised how serious I was when I told her that I couldn't live without her." He realised, not sure whether the others were actually listening or not, but he didn't care. "I mean, having her at the other side of the country, not knowing what she was doing, how she was feeling, whether she was happy...that was hard enough. I don't know what I'd do if I knew she was further away than the other side of the country. I love her _so much_, but I always had too much trouble putting that into words. I tell her that I love her everyday, I make sure of it, but I rarely tell her how much, or at least, I don't tell her as much as she _deserves _to be told." He started to get choked up again, and looked determinedly back down at the ground. "But any minute now, she could be gone, and I'll lose my wife, and the only woman I've ever truly loved...and it'll be because I wasn't watching out for her."

However, the comfort bestowed upon him didn't come from his best friend, but rather, his brother-in-law. He was surprised at this, because he rarely had a serious discussion with Johnny other than that he should stop playing practical jokes on Ben. Still, it was Johnny's hand that gripped his arm, sharing the strength that Johnny found in his silence. "Reed, it's not your fault. It could have been any of us."

"It_ is _my fault." He said quietly, staring off into space, and they could all see the layer of tears brimming his eyes. "If I hadn't been so sure that she'd never get hurt, I would have been there to stop it. Or if I'd fought harder, I could have gotten the gun away from him before he'd fired. I could have-" He broke off, this time actually using his arm to wipe over his eyes. "If she dies...it'll be my fault."

------------------------

"Dr. Richards...Sir?"

Reed's head snapped up from the wall, causing a crick in his neck to make its presence known painfully. He had been sitting in the same position for hours now, with his head leaned back as far as it would go, so that when he first opened his eyes, he had been staring at the ceiling. For the past two hours, he had been repeating the same mantra over and over in his head. _Please, let her be okay, let her live. Don't take her away from me. _A few times, he had said that latter part aloud, without realising it, but Ben and Johnny had said nothing in returned, unsure of what else they could say to him. As the hours ticked by with no news on their friend and their sister, they too were starting to lose hope.

Now, with the new voice present, Reed had jerked back into reality, a place which he would rather not be at the moment. Standing above him was Dr. Burgess, waiting calmly with a clipboard in his hands. It took Reed a moment to understand what this meant, and as soon as he was fully aware of himself once again, he got to his feet as quickly as he could.

"What is it?" He asked quickly, almost stumbling over his words where he was speaking so quickly. "What's happening with her?"

Burgess gave him a confident smile, which alone gave Reed a moments hope. "The _good _news," He began, "is that Susan's body hasn't rejected the universal donor, and we managed to drain out almost all of the poison."

"There's still some there?" Reed questioned.

Burgess nodded. "Yes, but it was what her stomach had already tried to break down. It simply means that when she wakes up, there may be some vomiting as her body tries to dispose of it. But overall, she should suffer no lasting effects from it."

Although this was good news, Reed was frowning. "But…I though she was going to wake up when the sedation wore off?" He asked, wondering what had changed.

"No, she hasn't come round with the sedation wearing off." Burgess explained, but he held up a hand to stop Reed when he went to speak again. "However, this is nothing to worry about. The poison did still get into her bloodstream after all, and it took a lot out of her body, as did the draining. She's not fallen into a coma, or anything that we are extremely concerned about, she's simply giving her body time to rest and heal."

Ben and Johnny looked at Reed warily, unsure whether this news was going to have Reed burst into tears, or hit the wall again. Instead, however, he did nothing. He simply took a deep breath to calm himself down, and closed his eyes, running his hand over his eyes for a moment. "And when she wakes up," He asked Burgess. "She'll be okay?"

Burgess nodded. "When she wakes up, there's no reason to expect anything other than a full recovery." He confirmed.

"So, she's okay?" Reed asked, needing to hear it one more time.

"In a manner of speaking, yes."

Reed's hands returned to his face, but this time he held them there, wiping away all the anxiety that had build up over the night. She was okay. She was alive. She was going to be fine. "Oh, thank God." Reed said, surprising the others by grinning broadly when he removes his hands. He looked at Burgess, and smiled at him. "Thank you. Thank you so much." He wasn't big on hugging people that he barely knew, but right now, he felt he could make an exception.

"Only doing what you pay us to do." Burgess assured him, but still grateful for the thanks. "There are some conditions though, that you should be aware of."

"Of course." Reed nodded, his face turning serious again, but his inside joy was hard to disguise.

"When Susan has awoken, you're free to take her back to her own room, but I'm placing her on strict bed rest for a few weeks."

"Oh, she'll hate that." Johnny laughed, knowing how restless his sister was.

"She'll probably be too exhausted to argue." Burgess told him. "But no matter what she tries to do, she needs rest until we've given her the all clear. One of us, probably myself, will come and check on her every day, and make sure that she's still making good progress, but I can't think of any reason why she shouldn't be fine within a few weeks."

Reed smiled again, sighing loudly but the sound was filled with relief. "She's got us to look after her." He assured Burgess.

"That's good, because she'll need you."

Reed nodded, knowing that he needed Sue just as much. If their engagement and marriage didn't prove that, this did. A long time ago, the first time they had been together as a couple, he had made the mistake of denying how much she meant to him, and that had driven them apart. He wasn't about to let her go again. He had no doubt that he needed and loved her more than anything else in this universe. However, the only question he did have in his mind, was whether or not Sue was going to let him take care of her. After all, she was a stubborn woman.

"Can I see her?" He asked.

"I had a feeling you would ask that." Burgess smiled softly, almost in a fatherly way. "Of course, you can."

The walked down the corridor, with Burgess taking the lead, Reed following him a few steps behind, and right behind him were Johnny and Ben. Reed realised, as they took a few turns, that he'd not been to this part of the medical facility since he had first seen it completed. As much time as he spent experimenting with the medical staff, he'd not ever needed to be in this part of the facility. No one had ever been that badly hurt before. No one had ever needed anything more than a few scrapes cleared up. Everything was always a precaution for them in this degree.

Burgess came to a halt outside of Room 2. Reed wondered what was going on with Room 1, momentarily, but when he realised that this was Sue's room, he felt the familiar, increased thumping within his chest. He was beginning to feel like a teenager again, back before he had come to accept confrontations. They all stopped in their space, and Burgess moved towards the door handle, yet when he pushed the door open for Reed to enter he didn't move.

"Reed?" Ben asked, when they noticed that he had frozen in place.

Ben's questioning tone startled him out of a small trance, and he shook himself, taking a deep breath and stepping towards the door. However, he never got past the doorway.

Even thought the room was large, and there was a lot of space taken up by various things, he was immediately drawn to the figure lying in the bed. Sue. "Oh, Sue." He whispered breathily, as he felt his body turn rigid and freeze again at the sight. She was lying still, her arms draped over the blankets. She was still deathly pale, despite having a blood transfusion. Her golden hair was spread around the white pillow beneath her like a halo of innocence, and her angelic appearance struck him so much, that he didn't notice, for a moment, all of the chaos that streamed from her.

Reed had been in hospitals numerous times in his life. Never really for himself or his family, but for research purposes. Still, even though he had seen this thousands of times, it still scared him slightly to see the tubes coming out of her arms, some draining fluid and some inserting it. There was an oxygen mask covering her nose and mouth, making sure that she didn't stop breathing. He wasn't sure why that was there, if she was fine. That didn't exactly give him the impression that she was fine.

"Don't be alarmed by the tubes and the mask." Burgess told him, seeing the unease on Reed's face. "It's all precautions."

But still, it was a precaution because there was a risk, and that was what alarmed him. From previous experience, he knew that people only told others not to be alarmed when there was a valid reason for being alarmed in the first place. Even though they had assured him that Sue was going to be fine when she woke up, he realised that until she did wake up, she was still at risk, and he wasn't entirely sure that he wanted to know what these risks were.

A burning sensation behind his eyelids cause him to blink rapidly, and it was soon followed by a thick lump choking up his throat. He felt his own strength, which had been wavering for too many hours now, start to disappear completely, and he leaned sideways against the doorframe. As he did so, he bowed his head down, so that he couldn't see the heartbreaking scene before him anymore, and covered his eyes with his hands, just in case a slither of the image cropped up before he was ready to look again.

He tried to control his breathing as it began to overwhelm him, but it was only a matter of seconds before his breathing turned into sobs. His cries were soon uncontrollable, and for a moment, he just stood there and cried, longer and harder than he had done since he was a small child. Nothing had brought so much pain inside of him for years, and at the same time, the sleep deprivation combined with his anxiety didn't help matters as tears continued to flow down his cheeks. He'd never been like this before. He'd never felt so completely helpless, yet so to blame. He didn't care how much the others told him that things happen which are out of their control. Sue was his wife, and if he'd done his job and taken care of her like he was supposed to, she would be okay.

After a while, in which he wasn't sure how much time had passed, a large and heavy hand came down upon his shoulder, surprising with the gentleness in its weight. In fact, the hand also covered a large amount of his bicep as well. He didn't have to turn to know that it was Ben, but he did anyway.

Looking up at his large friend, Reed shook his head, accepting the friendly embrace which Ben offered him. "What have I done to her, Ben?" Reed chocked out, still felling like he had failed her.

"You haven't done anything." Ben told him gruffly.

"Look at her!" Reed cried out, flinging his arm behind him as they parted. "She looks dead, Ben."

Ben, however, didn't need to look at her. Not again. He'd already looked over Reed's shoulder and seen her lying there, lifeless but for the steady status monitors assuring them otherwise. Yet, at Reed's latter statement, Johnny turned away from the pair, keeping his back to them as he composed himself. He hadn't yet seen Sue, with everyone else standing in the way, and judging from Reed's reaction, he wasn't entirely sure that he could stand to see her in that state. After all, she was his big sister. She was, in his eyes, always going to be there to keep him out of trouble, no matter what he did. She was always there. She always had been, and she was always going to be. He couldn't look through that door and see her in way which would compromise that, despite what the medical team told them.

"Come on, Reed, you've gotta keep your chin up." Ben told him, watching as Reed let out a frustrated sigh and angrily wiped at his eyes again, still refusing to look over his shoulder. However, clearly sensing Reed's denial for this, Ben physically turned him on the spot, forcing him to look at Sue. "She's your wife." He reminded him, although that wasn't what he needed a reminder of. "You've got to go in there, and get her to wake up."

Reed sniffed a little, a quiet sound which he tried to disguise from the others despite his previous breakdown already being witnessed. Obediently, he took a few shaky steps into the room, seeming to stumble a little, like a lost child looking for safety, only to be met with the most horrific sight imaginable. It was almost as if he wanted to stay away, so that he couldn't see the damage that his absence of protection had caused, but he knew, in his heart, that his rightful place was at her side.

Burgess looked to Ben, who watched his friend almost protectively, standing still and waiting just in case Reed had a lapse of judgement and tried to get back through the doors. "When she wakes up, make sure to call someone." Burgess told him, waiting for Ben's returning nod before he turned, and walked away from the group.

Ben turned around slightly, and faced Johnny over his shoulder. "You okay there, kid?" Johnny nodded furiously, still with his back to Ben. Ben could hear the deep shaking breaths of the youngest man, though, and checked again. "You sure?"

"Yeah." Johnny said, turning to face him and putting on a false face. "Yeah, I'm good."

Ben stepped back from the doorway, accepting that Reed wasn't going to leave now, and focused on Johnny, who had so far been forgotten in all of this chaos. "You know, she don't look that bad." Ben told him, knowing that it was Reed's outburst which prevented Johnny from trying to see his elder sister.

"I know." Johnny nodded. "Reed overreacts when it comes to Sue. I know that. I just…" He trailed off, taking a deep breath. "I just…can't see her like that right now." He admitted.

"Like the screaming?" Ben asked, remembering that Johnny had walked away when Sue had been in agony when they had first come back.

Johnny nodded. "She's my big sister, Ben." He explained, shocking the rock-formed man by not using a nickname to address him for once. "She's the girl who used to be wearing her best dress, and she'd still come into the garden when it was raining to get me out of the mud. She's the one who used to clean something up, no matter how dirty it got. When our Mom died, she was the only one who really knew what I needed. She took care of me." He sighed again. "I just…I can't see her like that."

Ben nodded. "Okay, kid." He said softly. "That's okay."

Johnny started to walk down the corridor, and then turned back to Ben. "Listen, don't tell Reed, 'cause he'll probably hate me for this…but I'm gonna ring our Dad. Get him to come out here."

Ben nodded. "Secret's safe with me."

Johnny smiled weakly. "Sue would want him here."

Inside the room, Reed was completely oblivious to the conversations happening outside. Slowly, he approached Sue's bedside, an in a child-like way, he half expected her to open her eyes, her beautiful eyes, and smile at him, telling him that he worried too much. He sat down on the chair at her bedside, placed right at her side, and took her limp hand in his. It felt warm, which comforted him in the same way which her forehead had when he had kissed her when they had brought her down here. It wasn't cold like the dead. No, she was very much alive.

He squeezed her hand lightly, not too tight, but enough to let her known that he was there, if she could feel him. He felt himself letting out a breath, unsure that he was even holding one to begin with, but as he released, he felt as if a constriction around him also disappeared. How that he was at her side, rather that the other side of the room, he could see the gentle rise and fall of her chest whilst she breathed.

Yes, she was just asleep.


	4. Chapter 4

Chapter 4:

Two mornings later, Reed raised his head from the mattress. Groaning, he ran his hand over his face, feeling the skin slide back into it's usual position from where it had moulded against the bed. The familiar ache in the back of his head resurfaced, and he knew why instantly. He hadn't slept again. Whilst he had rested, true enough, by placing his head down on the mattress, and his eyes had been closed, he hadn't slept. He'd just lie there for hours, waiting…begging sleep to take him far away, but it never did. He hadn't realised how hard it was to sleep without her. It was different leaving the lab later than he had meant to, and knowing that he could crawl into bed beside Sue, feeling her warm body against his, comforting him.

Now, he was reduced to sitting beside her. Whenever the desperation for sleep fought against him, and his eyelids began drooping, he would lean against the edge of the mattress, much as he had done a few hours ago. Supporting his head with one arm, he would keep the other locked against Sue's hand. Part of him felt like he was abandoning her, forcing her to fight this strange slumber alone, were he to release her hand. He didn't leave her side for anything other than something he couldn't control, for example, the time he had realised that he hadn't moved for fifteen hours, and because Ben was forcing him to keep hydrated whilst he sat there, he suddenly realised that he _really _needed to go to the bathroom. Yet, still, the nagging fear that he wouldn't be at her side when she awoke had him racing back to her bedside, his heart falling every time he saw that her eyes were still closed in sleep.

The medical staff waltzed in and out of the room every hour, checking that all the monitors were still giving out the signals that they wanted to see. Even though the continued to reassure Reed that she was simply sleeping, he had a nagging fear that they suspected that her stability could disappear at any moment. Why else would they be checking every hour? However, it was the same monotonous routine every time they entered the room. They would come in, greet Reed, ask if there was any change, check for themselves even though Reed would tell them that there wasn't, make their notes, ask if there was anything they could get for Reed, and when he declined their offers, which he always did, they would leave.

She was still deathly pale, with her arms draped limply over the blankets; one of her hands always loosely wrapped between Reed's fingers. He let out a loud exhale, forcing control over himself. He'd been a complete wreck most of the night, once he had been forty-eight hours without seeing his wife's eyes, even though she was right before him, yet he didn't want tears to cross his cheeks another time. That wasn't going to help Sue. It wasn't going to help her wake up, and it wasn't going to get him anywhere either. _Letting out your emotions doesn't work unless you've got someone there to hold you, _Sue had once told him.

However, it wasn't all doom and gloom. Hope had been reignited in him when the medical staff had removed the oxygen mask that morning, stating that her breathing was strong, and that she could easily breathe for herself now. That had even brought at tiny smile to his lips, knowing that this showed her strength was increasing. The tubes in her arms, too, were diminishing. Painkillers were no longer flowing into her body, numbing the pain that was partially the reason for her unconsciousness, and there was only a single tube running between her body and medical equipment now. This was keeping her hydrated, and feeding her nutrients, which didn't worry Reed as much as the painkillers had. After all, this was simply healing her body in the same way in which someone would get over the flu - keep eating, and keep drinking.

"Please, Sue." He begged off her, bringing her hand up to his lips. "Move…open your eyes…anything. Just…anything. I need to know that you're okay. I need to know that you can hear me. It's been two days, and I'm already going crazy. I keep trying to believe that you're going to be okay, but until your back, I can't believe it." He fought back the tears which blurred his vision, and had to sniff back against the lump in this throat. "I'm so scared that I'm going to lose you," He admitted. "But that can't happen, right? I love you too damn much, Susie."

In the more recent hours, he'd found himself talking to her a lot. He found himself, at times, wearing his voice think because of the constant chatter he kept up, despite the lack of response. Somehow, he'd always manage to find something to tell her from within the seemingly empty room. He'd tell her about the weather, which he only knew about because someone would open the blinds at around seven in the morning. He'd tell her about Johnny getting into trouble up in the kitchen when he was trying to cook, which he only knew about because Ben came down and told him. He'd talk to her about the fan mail they had received after defeating Victor for the final time, which he only knew about because Johnny had brought down the stack of cards which were all addressed to Sue alone, which they supposed were get well cards. He'd remind her about certain memories as well, dates they'd been on, days out they'd had…sometimes going as far back as the M.I.T days. Sometimes, he half expected her to wake up and correct him, and when she didn't, he felt himself slipping further and further away from the people who now came to check on the both of them, not just Sue. At least, with Sue, they could medically survey her, but there was only so much that they could do to help Reed, when he was failing to help himself.

On that third morning, Reed was joined by Johnny. The youngest member of their team entered quietly, almost sheepishly, and unknown to Reed, Johnny had stood by the open door for a full twenty minutes before finally entering the room. He didn't make eye contact with his brother-in-law as he entered the room, but Reed recognised the presence of another, and looked up to see Johnny on the other side of the bed.

Johnny placed down a vase on the empty bedside table. On Reed's side, the table had been covered by the pile of cards from their fans which were all for Sue; a pile which was growing by the day, and a lamp, which he kept turned on when the room was darkened in the middle of the night. However, now the opposite bedside table housed a vase, crystal clear to show the water which filled the bottom quarter. However, it was the flowers that filled the vase which brought an amused, familiar smile to Reed.

"Sunflowers." He murmured quietly, his eyes trained on the flowers as Johnny set them down.

Johnny shrugged, trying to make it seem like a small gesture, but they both knew how much it would mean to Sue when she learnt who had brought them for her. "Her favourite, right?" Johnny questioned correctly, even though he'd known since she was fifteen and he eleven, when a boy had brought them for her, that they were her favourites. "I thought she might want to see something colourful when she woke up." He explained simply, remaining stood on the other side of the bed, looking down at his elder sister with his hands shoved in his pockets. "Any change."

Reed shook his head, the same notion he repeated every time someone asked him that question. He hated that this was always his answer. He wanted to be able to say 'yes, there was change', but he couldn't. He wanted to see her awake again. He wanted to see her smiling, to hold her in his arms and assure her that everything was okay. He even missed their little arguments about him spending too much time in his lab. He'd rather live their worst day spent together than see her like this for another second. "They said she's still sleeping pretty deeply." He remembered from that morning. "She probably won't wake up for a while longer."

Johnny looked up at Reed. It was no secret that he had barely left the room for days, and he had certainly not left the house. Even the tabloids knew this much. Johnny and Ben had attended an out of control fire in a business center, which had been a reason for them to leave the house if nothing more, and it didn't take long for the sudden 'disappearance' of the Invisible Woman to merge with that of Mr. Fantastic. It was clear to the entire city that something had happened to one of them, and that the other was refusing the leave their partner's side.

But to those who could see Reed, the reality of the rumours was so much worse. His hair was messed, and in places it was even standing on ends from the amount of times he had run his fingers through it in frustration - and when had been the last time he had showered? Johnny didn't know, and he didn't want to know either. The bags underneath his brother-in-law's eyes looked so deep in his skin that they might have been fit to stay, and they weren't the familiar dark circles which were there after a night in the lab. Oh no, these were those of a man who was too haunted to sleep. He was starting to look worse than Sue did. The only thing that hadn't changed about his appearance since he had first sat at her side, was the glimmer of hope in his eyes as he watched his wife.

Johnny sighed quietly. "Reed, get out of here, man."

Reed looked up at him, his face a picture of confusion. "Wha-?"

"You're out of it. You're no help to her like this." He said softly.

Reed frowned slightly. "I'm not going anywhere." He said, quietly, but stubbornly, as he stroked Sue's palm with his thumb.

"At least go and get some food." Johnny tried.

"I'm not hungry." Was the reply.

But he was hungry, even Johnny knew that. Reed hadn't eaten for days now. While Johnny had Ben to make sure that he ate something whenever he did, even if it was only a little, Reed paid no attention to their attempts to keep him eating. He hadn't eaten much on the day of their encounter with Doom either, because of how much of the day it had taken up. A quick, rushed breakfast in the morning, and that was all - off to work, save the world. But this time, there was none of the comforting thought on their way home of warm showers, a comfortable couch and a take-out meal welcoming them. That had been the last thing on all of their minds, but at least Johnny and Ben were still taking care of themselves. The way Reed was going, he would be likely to end up in a medical wing himself.

Groaning, Johnny tried a different approach. One way or another, Reed had to eat. The colour that had disappeared from his cheeks was now because of physical weakness rather than fear and panic. "You know what, fine." Johnny said, going to the chair beside him, and sitting down, placing his feet up on the side of the bed. "You can carry on sitting here, not eating, and not sleeping, until Susie wakes up." He pointed out. Reed simply looked up at him, emotionless. "But what happens next?"

"What do you mean, what happens?" Reed questioned. "As soon as she wakes up, everything will be okay."

"Will it?" Johnny raised his eyebrows. "Don't kid yourself, Reed. What's going to happen when she wakes up? She's going to need taking care of, right?"

"Right."

"And how the Hell are you going to do that, if you're too exhausted and run down to do it?" Johnny asked him. "You can't take care of her if you can't take care of yourself too."

Reed sighed, running his hands through his hair and messing it up even more. "I have to be here." He said quietly.

"It's impossible, man." Johnny shook his head. "Go into the house, just for a while. Just get out of this med wing, have a sleep, a shower…anything. Just rest for a while."

Reed shook his head. "I'm not leaving her." He said, his voice full of emotion.

"Reed-"

"You don't understand, Johnny. I have to be here when she wakes up!" Reed said sharply, still trying to control himself but constantly battling the person in side of him who wanted to strike out at anyone who tried to take him from Sue's side. Why didn't anyone understand that he had to be there? She was his wife, and he wanted to be the first thing that she saw when she woke up. He wanted her to know that he had been there, and that he hadn't left her, like he had promised her. She'd want him at her side. He could still remember her lying in his arms, on the cold warehouse floor as the poison ran through her. Her words echoed in his mind.

"_Don't let me go, okay?" _

"_Never."_

"You said it yourself, Reed." Johnny said, breaking him out of his memory. "She won't wake up for a while longer. Tomorrow's another day, right? That's what Sue says."

Reed sighed heavily, dipping his head a little. He knew that Johnny was right, but admitting that he was right was hard for him. He'd spent a considerable portion of his life proving that Johnny's hot-headedness in everything he did was reckless and useless, and to sit there and admit that he was right to say that he needed to leave his unconscious wife's side, was hard for him.

"She's not going to be on her own." Johnny pointed out, swaying him further into leaving. "I'm gonna stay here."

"If anything happens-"

"I'll come get you straight away." Johnny nodded.

Reed sighed, staring at Sue for a moment. What would she tell him, if she was awake? Internally, he laughed. He knew exactly what she'd say to that. She'd tell him how ridiculous he looked, and that he was worried over nothing. She'd force him away until he was back on his feet, rested and relaxed enough to properly deal with the problem at hand. She'd make him take care of himself, just like everyone else was doing. It was just different when she was telling him. He knew that when she told him, she did it because she loved him, whereas the others did it because they didn't want to make Sue worried about how he was coping. Sue would take care of him, and now he had to take care of her. But to do that, he needed to do what everyone was telling him to do, and leave the room.

"Okay." He decided, standing up from the seat which had become his home for his endless waking hours. "Thanks." He said, casting his eyes toward Johnny.

"No problem." Johnny waved off. "But if you come back down here before you look normal again, I'm barricading the door and not letting you in." He threatened lightly. Reed shook his head, surprised that in this situation, Johnny had him on the verge of laughing. "Oh, and by the way, the stubble stuff?" He said, pointing to Reed's unshaven chin. Reed's hand instantly going to where Johnny was pointing. "I don't care what Sue thinks about it, it's not working for you anymore. It's too long to be proper stubble, and it's too short to be a beard. You look like you should be sleeping in a doorway - get rid of it." He scolded him.

"Okay." Reed said, taking the hint with a small smile. "I'll shave." Nodding, he turned back to Sue, still holding her hand in his. He squeezed it tightly, and leaning down, placed a kiss on her forehead. His lips lingered brushing against her skin as he spoke to her. "I'll be back soon, Susie." He whispered quietly, his heart heavy when she didn't respond to the caress of his lips against her skin as she usually did. Giving her hand one last squeeze, he stood up, and made to leave the room without looking back.

He knew that if he looked back, he wouldn't be able to leave her.

----------------------------

When he got back up the main part of the house, he had been surprised to find himself alone. Ben was nowhere to be found, yet then again, Reed wasn't really looking for his friend, he just noticed that wherever he went, Ben wasn't there. He looked at his bedroom door, almost longingly, but something was keeping him rooted to the spot in the hall, preventing him from entering it. Perhaps it was that he couldn't face sleeping in there without Sue. Perhaps.

Instead, he went into the kitchen, noting again that it was empty. Of course, if Ben wasn't around, and Johnny was down with Sue, there wasn't going to be anyone in the kitchen. Then again, if Sue wasn't exactly around, then there was no one cleaning the kitchen either. True, they all helped out, but most of the time, the men of the house needed a subtle kick up the ass from their female cohabiter when it came to domestic chores. As he suspected, the kitchen was a mess. If Ben was the only one of them thinking half-straight, then clearly it was going to be a state. It wasn't exactly easy for him to clean the china plates, after all. They'd been through a lot of plate sets before coming to an agreement that Ben shouldn't be allowed to load the dishwasher.

Needing to do something productive, Reed started with the clearing up. He even turned on the radio in the corner for some background music. The sound of old-school Fleetwood Mac drifted from the classic radio station which Sue listened to. She wasn't really a fan of the modern music that Johnny was in to, even though she occasionally had a few favourites. He had a very fond memory of catching Sue dancing in her underwear in the bedroom to the sound of Shakira. But she had been right, because Sue's hips definitely didn't lie. He smiled at the memory.

He unloaded the dishwasher, surprised that there were even plates in it to begin with, and then reloaded it with more dirty plates. Taking the clean plates and crockery, he put them back in the cupboards where they belonged, and then looked around for more things he could be doing. Fleetwood Mac drowned into silence, and was replaced by a radio announcer speaking for a few minutes, but he wasn't really listening to what the announcer was saying. He only smirked as another song with fond memories was played into the kitchen through the stereo speakers.

_Tumble outta bed and stumble to the kitchen_

_Pour myself a cup of ambition_

_Yawnin', stretchin' try to come to life_

_Jump in the shower and the blood starts pumpin'_

_Out on the streets the traffic starts jumpin'_

_And folks like me on the job from 9 to 5_

Yes, he remembered Johnny's attempt at a 'group night out' for 'bonding purposes'. As soon as they had arrived at the small bar, Johnny had abandoned the three of them to go talk to a group of girls who's belts were longer than their skirts. To make matters worse, Ben had needed to stand all night, because none of the stools could support him, and Reed had found it impossible to order a drink that wasn't a cocktail, because they didn't serve anything else. However, even after three cocktails, Sue still hadn't found it very amusing when her 'dear brother' had nominated her on the karaoke machine. Oh no. She'd spent most of the evening hoping that Johnny hadn't noticed the karaoke party happening around them, but alas, this wasn't the case. She hadn't even known what she was singing until she got up there, literally dragged by Johnny. Of course, Johnny's attempt at embarrassing his sister hadn't gone as planned. The crowd had loved her, and the remaining members of the Fantastic Four had stood gaping as they leant against the bar, staring in wonder as an amazing vocal performance came from Sue. None of them knew that she could sing so well.

Eventually, Reed managed to stumble towards their bedroom, determined to get over the fact that Sue wasn't going to be waiting for him in bed. He wished desperately that when he opened the door, she'd by lying there, curled around her pillow. She often hugged it in her sleep when he wasn't there. He wanted to be able to cross the room, carefully creeping to make sure that he didn't wake her up whilst he got undressed, and then he wanted to be able to crawl into bed beside her, feeling her stir as he wrapped his arms around her, and turn into his embrace with a tired yet content sigh.

He wanted to do all of the things he knew he couldn't when he saw that their bed was empty.

Still, as hard as it was to lie there and know that she wasn't joining him soon, he managed to get some sleep. He'd closed his eyes, forcing himself to stop waiting for her to knock on the door gently before entering. He never understood why she still sometimes knocked on the door before entering. They shared the room, it was as much hers as his, and it wasn't as if they had issues with privacy around each other - they were a married couple, after all. They no longer had the awkwardness when it came to close shower calls anymore. In fact, sometimes, they went out of their way to make that happen. Instead, he shut his eyes firmly, burrowing his face into the pillow which wasn't the same as doing it in her hair, yet comforting enough, eventually, to bring him sleep.

The next time he awoke, he noticed that it was well into the afternoon. He'd managed to get six hours sleep, at least, which had surprised him. He'd been so exhausted, that he hadn't even been aware of dreaming. Any other time he had closed his eyes, he was fixed on the image of her unconscious form. Yet now, his mind was blocking those out thanks to the musical reminder of happier memories. They had restored in him the hope that had begun to fade.

Dragging himself away from the bed which called to him with promise of more sleep, which he ignored, he went to the bathroom. Turning the heat up as much as he could bear, he allowed the shower water to run over him, understanding now why Sue liked her showers so hot. She often had the water just the slightest bit hotter than what was comfortable, because, after a long day, it took off the stress and weight from her shoulders. He understood that now. After his shower, he started to correct the problem that Johnny had commented on most heavily. The beard, or the stubble, or whatever it was called when it was neither of those.

When he wandered down to the medical wing another hour later, after forcing down a round of toast, his spirit had been lifted. No longer trudging along through lack of sleep left him feeling lighter on his feet, and he wasn't stumbling around as if he were about to drop. However, his heart fell considerably from it's new found height when he entered the room again, and saw that Sue hadn't moved in the slightest since he had left her all those hours ago.

Johnny looked up at his entrance, giving him a satisfied smile. "See, much better." The younger man commented. He was no longer seated by Sue's side, but instead, standing over by the window. He had pulled the shades up, and was looking out of the window, which flooded the room with natural sunlight. He had turned as Reed had entered, shoving his hands into his pockets whilst Reed returned to his usual seat.

"No change?" He asked, running a hand down her cheek before clasping her hand again.

"Nothing." Johnny told him, shaking his head.

Reed dropped his head for a moment, and, after taking a deep breath to calm himself down, he raised it once more. "Has Burgess been around again yet?" Reed asked, trying to get over the disappointment that she hadn't made any change at all.

"Not yet." Johnny shrugged, checking his watch. "You look better off now." He approved.

Reed nodded. "I didn't realise how tired I was." He said simply.

"Yes, you did." Johnny caught out on his lie. "That's why you agreed to leave in the first place." Reed said nothing, but cast a look in Johnny's direction. He knew that Johnny knew he was lying, but he wasn't going to admit to it anytime soon. He'd done enough admitting that Johnny was right for one day. "Great, you're just in time." Johnny said, checking his watch again. "I've gotta head out."

"Where are you going?" Reed asked, more casually than curiously, yet still curious as to why Johnny was leaving the house when Ben had only been able to tempt him out with the fire a few days before.

"The airport." Johnny said simply. Then, as he realised what he had said, his eyes widened. "For…no reason whatsoever." He added.

"Why are you going to the airport?" Reed asked him.

Johnny remained in his frozen position. "I, uh…can't tell you."

At that moment, Reed knew exactly what was going on. Johnny was never one for covering it up when it came to meeting friends or women. No, there was only one person in the world who's identity he would cover up around Reed.

"You know." Reed told him, with a tiny, amused smile. "I'm not going to kill you because you called your father out here." He told him.

Johnny jerked his head. "You're not?" He asked warily.

He shook his head. "I know that I'm a nervous wreck around him, but I'm not selfish enough to stop you bringing him out here when his daughter is sick." Reed told him.

Johnny was silent for a moment, and then kicked at something on the ground. "Yeah, well, I called him." He said, not knowing what else to say.

"His flight gets in soon?" Reed asked. Johnny nodded. "I guess I'll see you when you get back then."


	5. Chapter 5

**Sorry it's been so long since I've updated! You'll all be pleased to know that updates should come rather regularly now, because I have actually finished writing it. However, there is only 2 more chapters after this one :(  
Love and cookies! xxxx**

After Johnny had left for the airport, Reed had stayed in the chair at Sue's bedside, facing the blind-covered window that was now open. Johnny had opened it, bringing sunlight into the room that now bounced off of the sunflowers he had brought with him. Even now, on the back end of disaster, Sue shone more beautiful than the flowers she believed were immune to shrivelling. Still, even when others came down to see how she was, he couldn't give them an answer, not when the only thing that made sense to him right now was not to leave her side again.

The thought that she still might not make it scared him to no end. He couldn't get the idea of out his head, with the painful image of her body contorting in pain in his arms plastered to the inside of his mind. Every second that he sat there, and every enhanced thud of his heart, which seemed to feel so much stronger because of the worry, made him fear that at any moment, hers might stop. He knew that he was never going to forget this feeling for the rest of hs life. Without a doubt, he loved his wife. The moment he had been taken to her bedside had been enough to send his head and his heart into a strange and dark place, where he was helpless do to anything except for to wait for her eyes to open and for her to lead him from his dark place. He still didn't understand how he could have let this happen to her.

He hurt. His heart actually hurt. He always thought that the expression of feeling your heart breaking was just words to explain to someone how it felt to lose someone. However, the person he had faced losing wasn't even gone, and there was still a pain in his chest that begged for a sedation against it. He knew that the only person who could take away that pain had her own pain to heal from first, though.

He just couldn't stand the idea of her gone.

Reed sighed, bringing up his hands to cover his eyes as he attempted to rub the tiredness from them. His short sleep that morning had only proved to his body just how much sleep he needed. It was the middle of the day, though, and despite his need for sleep, he didn't want Sue to wake up and he be asleep for it. What if she was sick? What if she couldn't communicate to him? What if she simply didn't realise he was there? He needed to be there. He couldn't sleep. He had to know that she was okay before he let sleep take him again. Sleep would take him to a place far away from these horrific circumstances, and yet, while he knew it would be far, far away, it would still be full of nightmares should he travel there before he knew that Sue was all right. If he let himself surrender now, he'd be trapped in the awful place where dreams and reality collided, and a part of him feared that by closing his eyes on her, he was giving up on her. If both their eyes were closed, they were ignoring the reality.

He could remember of the harshness of her closed eyes from when he had been at her side hours before, and how they had deprived the stained white room of the shining blue eyes that usually radiated from her. You know how they say a woman can light up a room just by walking into it? With a smile, it's completely true. When Sue was happy, Reed couldn't help but smile, just because of how beautiful she looked with a smile on her face.

He'd dedicated his life to this woman before him. Three years ago, they'd stood before each other and become man and wife. He'd promised that he'd love her with every fibre of his being, and he did, he always would. Now, he was terrified that she might not ever open her eyes. He might ever hear her singing in the shower. He might never lie in bed, watching her sleeping. He could never go downstairs, seeing her shuffling around when she couldn't sleep at five in the morning, cramming the ice cream straight from the tub with such disorientation that it could easily have been toxic and she wouldn't have known the difference. She'd never bet here to keep him in line, to keep Johnny in line, to keep Ben from getting too wound up from Johnny. She was the centre of their family, the centre of Reed's entire universe.

She had to be okay, right?

Had she had a feeling when they'd entered that warehouse? Had she had a feeling that something bad was going to happen? He'd heard of people knowing somehow that something bad was going to happen to them; was this the case for Sue? Was there any clue in her mind that something was going to go wrong before it had happened? Maybe it had passed her mind, just for a second, but she had shrugged it off, ignored it, or forced it into the back of her mind?

Maybe's clouded his mind, and he couldn't shake them off. They were too strong. He was so afraid that, no matter what the doctors told him, he was going to lose her, and that it would be his fault.

"Oh, my."

The two words broke him out of his trance. His head raised from where it had been bent, facing down at his wife's beautiful, unmoving face. He kept his hand enclosed over hers as his eyes widened a little, recognising the voice that came from the doorway behind him.

He turned, twisting his head to look over his shoulder. "Dr. Storm." He greeted, aware that his voice sounding like it was on the edge of a clifftop given his previous thoughts which had choked him up.

"Reed, son, how are you?" Franklin Storm said, stepping into the room and going up behind Reed, putting his hand on his shoulder. Something that amazed Reed was how Frank called him 'son', which his own father hadn't even been able to do that for most of his life.

Reed shook his head, sighing as he turned back to gazing at Sue's still form. "She hasn't woken up yet." He explained, this enough to explain how he was.

Frank nodded, his hand still on Reed's shoulder. "What have the doctors said?" He asked.

"They said most of the poison is out. The only trace of it she'll probably throw up when she come around. There shouldn't be any lasting effects. She just..."

"...Hasn't woken up yet." Frank finished for him.

Reed sighed heavily. "No."

Frank removed his hand from his son-in-law's shoulder, crossing to the other side of the bed. He leaned in slightly, stroking the golden hair of his daughter with a pained expression on his face. "Oh, sweetheart." He murmered gently.

Reed watched him for a moment, but soon felt too guilty to continue watching. It was his fault that Frank had to see his daughter this way. It was his fault that Sue was hurt. "I'm sorry." He blurted out, avoiding Frank's gaze as he looked down at his and Sue's hands.

Frank looked up from Sue. "What for?"

"I didn't protect her." Reed explained. "I wasn't watching her. I was too busy thinking about---"

"---about saving the world." Frank jumped in, causing Reed to look up at him finally. "I'm sure she was thinking about the same thing."

Guilt laced Reed's words as he spoke again. "That doesn't mean that I shouldn't have been protecting her." He pointed out.

Frank was silent for a moment, looking down once again on the daughter that he hadn't seen so still since the last time he'd tucked her into bed at night. "Reed, my daughter loves you." He explained. "You know, you were the only boy that she ever brought home?"

"I was?"

Frank nodded. "Susan loves you. More than anything. And the fact that you've been sitting here for days waiting for her just to move shows me that you love her just as much. She knows that you love her, and I'm sure that there's a part of her that knows you're sitting next to her right now." Reed felt a burning behind his eyes. People had been assuring him for days now that she knew he was there, but hearing it from her father, from the main who raised her, it felt so much more true. "And I'm damn sure that she doesn't want to see anyone other than you when she wakes up." Frank smiled at him, to his suprise. "I'm happy to know that my daughter is so blessed, to be married to man this devoted to her."

The choking up of tears continued, and Reed struggled to speak without a wavering voice. "I just...I love her so much, and to see that happen to her--"

"You said so yourself, Reed, the doctors say she'll be fine." Frank reminded him. "Now, you look like you've been here for days."

"I have." Reed admitted.

"So I thought." Frank nodded. "I want you to go upstairs."

Reed's head jerked up immediately, so fast that, considering it was his sharpest movement in days, he felt a crick in his neck. "No, I'm not leaving her." He said, filled with determination.

"I'll stay down here." Frank assured his son-in-law. "She won't be alone. I don't want her to wake up and give me a good seeing to for not making you take care of yourself." He went round behind Reed once again and put his hand on his shoulder. "You're as good as a son to me, Reed Richards, and I won't have you down here making yourself sick by now taking care of yourself. No, go. Ben is making a delicious lunch, I understand. I told him you'd be up to join him and Johnny."

----

When Reed arrived up in the kitchen, the scent of food wasn't inviting. He'd not eaten for too long to consider touching food, but Frank was right - he had to. Johnny was at one end of the table, simply staring at a sandwich, whilst Ben prepared another rather clumsily at the kitchen worktop. No doubt, it was for Reed.

Reed sat down beside Johnny, who looked up. "How is she?" He asked, rather hopeful.

"The same." Reed said, rather quietly.

"Is that a good thing, or-?"

"The doctors say it's a good thing." Reed assured him. "It means that she's got a high chance of waking up soon."

"Good." Johnny nodded, staring down at his sandwich again as if there were more chance of it eating him. "That's good."

Ben came over to the table with the other sandwich, and put it down in front of Reed. He stared at Johnny, however. "Are you gonna eat that sandwich, or what?" He asked the youngster.

"Not hungry." Johnny said simply.

Ben raised a rocky eyebrow as best he could. "You remember the last time you ate?"

"Not important." Johnny shrugged.

Ben sighed. "Eat the sandwich, kid."

"Not hungry." He insisted again.

"Look," Ben started to explain calmly. "I might not be Susie, but I know when you're hungry, kid. Anyone with decent hearing can hear your stomach going off. Just eat the goddamn sandwich."

Johnny raised his head and frowned at him. "Don't pull the Sue card to get me to eat."

"Then stop acting like a stubborn five-year-old and eat your lunch." Ben said. There was another silence, where they both tried to stare each other down; a Mexican stand off over a sandwich. Ben softed first, looking away, and then turning back to the youngest man, speaking gently. "I know that you're worried about your sister, but if you don't eat, then the minute she wakes up, you're going to kill over, and who's going to get the blame? Me. So, eat your sandwich, for both our sakes."

Johnny rolled his eyes. "Fine, 'dad'." He said sarcastically.

Ben turned to him again. "I can always get your old man to do this, you know. He's just downstairs."

"Speaking of which..." Reed contributed, standing at the table where his sandwich had one bite taken out of it. "I should be getting back down there."

"Oh no, you don't." Ben rounded on him.

"She might have woken up--"

"You haven't eaten your lunch, you're not going anywhere." Ben scolded him.

"She's my wife, Ben."

"I know that." Ben nodded. "That's not going to chance just because you ate lunch, you know."

Reed shook his head. "I should be with her."

"And you will be, after lunch." Ben said, and Reed sighed heavily, sitting down at the table. Reed eyed the sandwich again and Ben pushed the plate closer towards him. "If I have to play the Susie card again, I will." He warned.

"Fine." Reed said grudgingly, taking a few more bites of the sandwich under Ben's watchful eye.

Ben smiled to himself. "See...lunch is good. A good lunch for a good day."

Johnny frowned. "What, exactly, makes this a good day?"

However, Johnny wasn't answered by Ben, but instead by the presence of Dr. Burgess appearing in the kitchen doorway. "Dr. Richards." He announced, as he stepped into the kitchen, causing Reed to bolt out of his chair.

"What is it?" He asked quickly. "Is something wrong? Is she okay?"

"Dr. Richards, you may want to come back downstairs..."

"Why?" He asked, panic suddenly rising within him. "Has something happened?"

Dr. Burgess, however, smiled. "We think she may wake up extremely soon, and her father thought that you may want to be there." Reed's face flooded with relief. "Especially seeing as a few moments after you left, she started talking in her sleep."

"She's talking?" Reed asked hopefully, knowing that this was a very good sign.

"Nothing they can understand." Dr. Burgess explained, which lessened Reed's hope somewhat. "...except your name."


	6. Chapter 6

Reed spent the entire afternoon at Sue's side, holding her hand and urging her to wake up. He ended up abandoning the second half of his sandwich, and skipped dinner completely, in favour of speaking to Sue, knowing that as soon as he left the room and turned his back on her, she'd most likely wake up, and he wanted to be there when she did. He needed to see her eyes, and her smile. He needed to feel her kiss when it more than his lips pressing against her knuckles or her forehead, accompanied by a gentle plea for her to move, speak, open her eyes, anything.

The afternoon soon dissolved into evening, and Frank, Johnny and Ben seemed to take it in turns to come in every ten minutes and check what was happening. Most of the time, they stood outside, watching through the window in the door as Reed stayed stationary at her side. The evening then dissolved into the night, and whilst Sue had mumbled incoherently a little more, with more mention of Reed's name escaping her lips, their hopes remained shaking, waiting for her condition to improve just an unch more, enough for her to awaken. Midnight approached however, and with the lack of sleep over the past several days, as well as the stress from lack of food, Reed found himself unwillingly falling asleep at her side, stilling holding onto her hand as his body was slumped against the edge of the mattress.

At 2.15 in the morning, one of the doctors was checking her vitals, and writing on her chart along with a nurse, when Reed stirred again. Even though he'd only slept for two hours and sleep was still dragging him backwards, he felt the need to be awake. His direction, as always, was towards Sue. No matter what, he wasn't going to take a chance in leaving her. His love for her was right beside her, and he wished that she could know that. He had to crack a small smile at the thought that people only really get through these things together. However, he still felt he'd rather have died from his own poison dart than to see her like she was now.

The nurse and the doctor left, and with no one else in the room, he felt compelled to speak suddenly. "Hey." He said quietly, in little more than a whisper. He no longer felt strange, talking to someone who could hear him but not respond. "I know you can hear me, Sue." He said, his voice sounding determined. "Wake up, sweetheart. You've made it this far. You'll be in the clear as long as you'll just open your eyes. I know you can do it." He brought his hand up to her mouth and kissed it. "If you wake up, we'll be a family again, Sue..." The word 'family' had always been a strange concept to him, who had never had much of a home life as a child. Family had only really been created for him once Sue had walked into his life. He closed his eyes, putting his forehead down on their clasped hands. "Please," he begged, feeling hot tears coming again, and this time knowing that he was alone, he didn't try to fight them off. The hot sting of tears escaped his eyes, dripping down onto both his and Sue's hands. For several minutes, he just cried, quietly, but inconsoluble all the same. "Please, Sue, just wake up."

The first thing that Sue was aware of was a dull pain throbbing throughout her body. It wasn't unbearable, just an annoying pain, and with it was the feeling as if she were being dragged back into sleep, even though she felt as if she had slept for ages. Her head ached more than anything,but she could deal with that. She'd had headaches regularly from using her powers too much. Her next thought was trying to remember what had happened. Where was she? Her eyelids still felt heavy, and although she could hear things around her, she couldn't open her eyes. She tried to force herself, having finally left the limbo-like state she had been in for however long. Beside her, came the sound of sobbing, and as the feeling began to return to her limbs, she could feel someone clasping her hand tightly.

Who's crying? She wondered. Why are they crying?

Beneath the crying, she heard a beeping sound. She'd heard that sound before. Machines...monitors...was she in hospital? Why? What was going on? Then, she heard a voice from beside her, thick from crying, but unmistakable in identity. "Please, Sue, wake up." Reed? She tried to call out to him, but her voice came out in a low moan instead.

"Sue?" Reed questioned, his head rising from their hands. He got another moan in response. "Sue, can you hear me?" He said, surprising that his voice was still coming in sobs and his face was still running with fresh tears.

"Re-" She tried to say, before being cutt off by another moan. "Reed?"

"It's all right, Sue, you're gonna be fine." He assured her, as he leaned over to press the call button for someone to come down.

"Hurts." She muttered desperately, referring to the pain in her head. "Hurts so much."

Then, her eyes finally opened. Just a little at first, but there was a slither of those wonderful blue eyes that Reed had missed. She looked up at Reed, the man she had heard inside of her head whilst trying to escape from wherever she was. She saw the tears on his face, fresh tears, and she realised that he was the one who had been crying. His face was pale, and his hair was completely disheveled.

"It know it does, sweetheart, but it'll pass. It'll pass."

Dr. Burgess came into her room, giving her a smile. "Welcome back, Mrs. Richards." He checked her responses, and to her relief, gave her a painkiller, before he turned to Reed. "She'll recover fine now. We'll keep her down here tonight to save moving her, but in the morning she can return to resting in her own bed." Reed thanked him, and then, as quickly as he had appeared, he left again.

The affect of the painkiller was almost immediate, and even though Sue could still feel pain throbbing throughout her body, it now felt more bareable. Now that Burgess was gone, Reed sat back down before her, this time on the mattress rather than the chair. "Sue?" He said softly. She looked up at him, and raised her hand, with some considerable effort, to touch his cheek where tears were still falling.

"You're crying." She said, her voice slightly hoarse where it hadn't been used in a while. He didn't wipe away tears, though, but he closed his eyes and captured her hand in his, holding it to his face.

"I thought I'd lost you." He said in a choked sob.

The sight of his tears and the sound of his choked voice brought tears to her own eyes. "What happened?" She asked, still trying to remember what had happened, but failing.

Reed cleared his throat, speaking as normally as he possibly could. "Victor." He said simply. "Victor happened." Memories flodded back to her; the dart, the fight...the pain before collapsing into Reed's arms. "It's okay, it's over now." He assured her. "You're going to be fine."

"Have you been here the whole time?" She asked him.

"I wouldn't have been anywhere else." He assured her, cupping her cheek with his hand and stroking along her jawline with his thumb.

"You didn't have to be here." She told him, even though her gentle smile told him that she was glad to wake up to her husband with her.

"Yeah, I did." He nodded, and she saw how he began to get emotional again. "I was terrified, Sue." He admitted to her, needing to get this off his chest. "You stopped breathing, and they had to rescusitate you...I just...I was holding you and you stopped breathing. I was so scared I'd lost you. Then it took hours for them to work the poison out of your body. Then when they finally let me see you again you were so pale..so still..." He got choked up and held her hand tightly. "I thought you were dead, Sue, I really did. I've never been so scared since...ever."

By now, there were more tears in his eyes, but he didn't want to cry again. He had no reason to, other than relief, and it wasn't that which was making him cry, but rather the memory that would haunt him forever. He didn't think he'd ever forget seeing her for the first time like that.

"I've missed you so much." He told her, giving her as smile. "I love you."

She smiled, albeit rather weakly. "I love you, too."

"No, I mean it, Sue." He told her seriously. "You're everything to me. I'd be a complete wreck without you here. I married you for a reason; because I wanted you to be the one waking up beside me. I wanted to see your eyes first every morning, to hold you close in the middle of the night. I wanted my future to include you for everything. I wanted us to grow old together, to have a family, a real family of our own. I...I nearly lost that. I nearly lost you, and I was so terrified that I'd never get to tell you how much I loved you again." He looked away for a moment, and then looked back at her. "I don't tell you how much I love you enough. I should tell you more. I'm going to. Don't ever doubt that I love you more than anything in the universe."

She smiled at him. "Reed, you're my husband, and I'll always love you." She whispered to him.

Hearing those words, when, for a moment, he'd been afraid he'd never hear them again, almost brought tears back, and he leaned forwards. Supporting himself with his arms either side of her, their lips joined in the kiss they'd both needed. It was soft, perhaps softer than they'd ever kissed before, even their hesitant first kiss all those years ago, but it was so passionate, so filled with love, desire and relief, that they couldn't have replaced it. They parted, resting their foreheads together for a moment, stealing small, chaste kisses before letting the gap betwee them enlarge a little.

"You should get some sleep." Reed suggested.

"You look like you need it more." Sue pointed out to him.

He gripped her hand tightly. "I'm not going anywhere." He said stubbornly.

She smiled. "You don't have to." Knowing what she meant, he carefully lay out on the bed beside her. There was easily enough room, and she'd moved over as well so that she could lay her head on his chest. He put his arms tightly around her, holding her close as if he were afraid she'd be taken from him otherwise.

"I love you so much, Sue." He whispered into the golden hair that was pressed against him.

"I love you, too." She replied, before they could both finally drift into a sleep without worries.


	7. Chapter 7

True to the doctors words, Sue recovered well, albiet slowly, although it wasn't long before they were back down with the medics once more. However, this time, there was no illness or injurt that plagued them. This time, it was a more joyous occassion; the birth of their first child. Whilst still rather weak from the poison's effects when she first fell pregnant, Reed had taken as much care of his wife as she would let him, and determined to share the experience, he had been at her side throughout the whole labour - all sixteen hours of it. At the end of an exhausting effort for Sue, she held in her arms a beautiful baby boy.

"A boy, Reed, it's a boy." She said excitedly, looking at the crying bundle in her arms.

Reed grinned uncontrollably. He was a father, at last. He leaned close to Sue and gazed at the little face. He had seen photographs of himself as a child, and yes, this would definately be a little boy like he was, however he was willing to bet money on his son's eyes remaining crystal blue like his mothers, and he already had a considerable amount of blonde hair.

Smiling, Reed leaned to kiss Sue. "Thank you." He whispered to her.

But no sooner had he spoken the words, the room went deathly silent. Reed looked down from when he had been kissing Sue, and looked onto his son. Panicking, he saw that not only was he not crying, he wasn't moving either. And he wasn't just asleep.

"Why isn't he crying?" She asked, panicking as maternal instinct took over. "Reed, why isn't he crying?"

"I don't know." He told her, still clenching her hand tightly, but even his was trembling. One of the midwives that had coached Sue through her pregnancy ran over and looked at the baby, taking him from Sue's arms despite her protests to keep him close to her.

"He's stopped breathing." The midwife announced to the other doctors in the room. Their newborn son was whisked away from them to the other side of the room, and they began to perform the emergency steps to get him breathing again.

All the while, Sue clung to Reed and started to cry. Reed held her back. He had to be okay. He just had to be. He could hear Sue in his embrace, begging whoever was listening for them not to have their baby taken away from them. "He's going to be okay." Reed assured her. "Any minute how, he's going to be fine. He'll start crying." But for the longest minute of their lives, Reed watched over his sobbing wife's shoulder as the midwives tried to get his son to breathe, and Sue continued to hide herself against him, not even able to bear to look at the frantic crowd surrounding her son.

It was the cry of "no pulse, no heartbeat" that caused Reed to let out a cry himself, however. The words were repeated several times, however, until the panicking stopped, and the midwife who had taken their son came back over to them empty handed In the sudden silence, a flat line which had once been their son's heartbeat could be heard.

"No..." Sue croaked, hearing the sound of the flatline and burying her head further against Reed's chest, so much that his elasticised skin moulded to her shape.

"I'm sorry..." The midwife began, but she never got to finish her sentence.

The sound of their son crying once again filled the air, and Sue raised her head from Reed's chest. The couple exchanged hopeful glances. "Is he okay?" Sue asked tearfully.

After a moment's observation, a midwife nodded. "He's all right. He's okay."

Sue started to cry again, this time, with relief. A few moments later, the tiny boy was returned to his parents, and this time when Sue took hold of her son, she turned her body to Reed. "He's all right." She repeated, opening the blankets a little and showing Reed. "Reed, he's crying, he's all right."

"He's all right." Reed repeated, and then he smiled broadly, stroking a finger down his screaming son's face. He'd never been so pleased to hear a baby crying. "My son." He whispered, his words almost lost but Sue heard him, even over the crying of the baby. "My little boy."

Both of them were so pleased that thier son was breathing again, proud with his fight for life even though he was so young. Already, he was proving to take after his mother.

Reed found it strange as he considered how, a little over a year ago, he had once sat in this same medical facility, thinking that his life was over as he knew it. Now, however, this medical unit had brought his child into the world; a life that he would care for and nurture for the rest of his life. Together, he and Sue would be able to give their son everything he would need in life.

He smiled to himself. They had survived, and they had done it together.

Fin.


End file.
